Egg Decorating

We've all been on and off sick this week.  Alan even gave in and stayed home from work. We've both been puked on so many times this week that I think we've lost count.  A few kids are still sick and a few kids have been generous enough so share their germs with their parents.  I think Alan is mostly  better by now but I seem to be lagging on that end. The point being that we have done pretty much nothing this week other than lay around.  I kind of doubt I'll be in shape to even go to Mass this weekend which is a shame but I'm sure everyone else would like it if I kept my germs to myself.

But this morning Alan did manage to get some eggs dyed with the kids.  I was a bit surprised when he told me they only did 3 dozen because I really thought the kids would want to do more than that.  Only 4 eggs per kid seems a bit on the small side but then again once you start doing the math you realize that too many more per kid would just simply be too many.  But they seem to have had a good time and Alan is planning to turn a decent amount of them into these Make-Ahead Muffin Melts.  I'm fairly certain he is just sort of looking forward to it.

Homeschool Expo

Last weekend we attended the homeschool expo for the year or what my kids keep calling the "science fair."  You see, our homeschooling group in Florida would host a science fair every year so when we moved here the older children kept calling it that so now even the kids who were born here or were much too young to remember much of anything about living in Florida call it the science fair.  In truth it is much more than that.  The kids in the group put together projects on anything they are interested in.  There are usually art projects, musical performances, science projects, history related projects, dancing, craft projects, and just anything someone wants to share.

The year Gabe worked on learning about the planets and sang a planet song, Abby had a project about her American Girl stuff, Katie and Liam put together a karate demonstration, Kieran did a fencing demonstration, Sean made a potato cannon, and Bryan did a project on the history of Boy Scouts.  The younger two ate pizza and looked cute.  Sadly most of my pictures turned out less than clear. Sigh.  But everyone had a great time and I'm sure is already thinking of things to put together for next year.

Maple Syrup Festival

The past two weekends have found Bryan volunteering at GCVM for the Maple Syrup Festival.  Yesterday we took the rest of the crew out to see it as well. It's one of those events that you can either spend tons of time taking in or be in and out very quickly.  One of those things I like to try to do with the kids every year when possible or at least with a few of the kids every year.  That way I get to see how the kids are remembering and learning. The questions they were asking this year pretty clearly showed they were ready to hear more than just the basic information.  And knowing that we can always come back again next year means I don't feel guilty leaving when the younger kids are clearly worn out.

Bryan's costume

Drilling a hole for the tap.

He had to taste the sap coming out of the tree.

Working in the sugar shack.

We also learned about traditional ways of using chocolate.

And watched a lady making candles.

Happy Birthday Robert

The littlest boy in the house turned 4 yesterday. These kids really need to stop growing up on me. Just for a little while. I'm really not ready for it. He helped his biggest brother make his cake this year and seems to have had a great time. He says he was born "in the March for Life" and won't listen when we try to correct him so I guess we should just enjoy the little oddities while they last.  He also says he doesn't know his numbers but he does know his planets.  apparently we have priorities around here.

Happy birthday Mr. Robert!

CycleProGo-Fertility Charting

I've now had the chance to use three different computer based fertility charting programs.  Since I shared the previous experience with you, I wanted to share this one as well. But first I have to admit that I may be a bit biased in my opinion.  This particular program is put out by the folks at the Couple to Couple League.  Alan and I have been trained in the use of CCL's sympto-thermal based NFP for almost thirteen years.  We have been teaching the method for at least eleven years (I can't remember for sure, I only know that Sean was one when we went to one of the weekend training sessions).  We currently teach CCL classes several times a year and promote the benefits of this method through occasional talks at marriage prep programs a few times a year as well.  So, yes, I am more comfortable with the CCL methodology than I am with other forms of natural family planning or fertility awareness. However, this does not mean that I believe one system of NFP is superior than another or will work for each individual in the same way.  I have and will continue to refer folks to teachers of other methods when doing so is in the best interest of that individual because my goal is to support the overall health and well-being of each couple, not to promote one particular methodology.

CycleProGo is a mobile version of the CyclePro Fertility Charting Software that has been available from CCLI for several years.  As a teaching couple, Alan and I were given to opportunity to use the program before it has been made available to the general public so I guess you could say we are part of that group helping to work all the final kinks out of the system.

What do I love? It's available on Alan's iPod and my Kindle as well as our computers with just one account.  Everything updates at the same time so we can both see any changes entered in by the other person.  It's on the web so my little ones can't take a pen to a paper chart or run off with it on me.  No, that has never happened around here or anything.  The charts you see in the program are exactly like the ones you see in your book of charts so there is nothing new to adjust to.  The program allows you to make changes if you disagree with the chart interpretations and allows you to easily share your chart with your friends or teaching couple for those times when you need another set of eyes to help explain what you are seeing.  Very important to me is that fact that CycleProGo tells you what rules/system they are using to interpret your chart and even allows you to choose which rules to follow.  This is very important to me because only you as a couple know which rules are most appropriate for your unique circumstances.  When I have a serious reason to postpone a pregnancy, I am not comfortable relying on a system that does not share with me how it reaches its conclusions.

I will admit that the program allows you to enter so much information that it was at first a little hard to figure out exactly where everything should go.  It took me about a week to really figure out where everything was within the program.  This was just spending 5 or 10 minutes a day playing around with the program.  I am now much more comfortable with the lay-out of the system and no longer have that problem.  There are spaces to track ovulation tests, mucus observations, basal temperatures, fertility monitor results, medications, illness, weight, and other information. You can also enter information about your previous cycles so that the program is able to use your most up to date information originally recorded elsewhere.  But the program works even if you only enter a few pieces of information.

A big negative to me would be the price. At $5 a month or $35 a year, I must admit that I would not use this program if I did not have access to it for free as an instructor.  Our budget is tight and I just can't justify spending even $5 a month for something that I can do for free using pencil and paper or for free using one of the other free programs out there.  I realize that $5 does not seem like much but sometimes every penny counts and this is one of those items that would simply not make the cut for us because there are so many other options available.

Overall I have to give a positive review to this fertility tracking app.  It gives you just enough help while at the same time allowing you the freedom to make your own changes.  It makes it easy for a couple with a crazy schedule to share fertility information when they can't get together during the day to talk face to face. And will be available for use on all of your devices including windows, mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, and Kindle products.

For more information and the latest updates, go to CCLI's website or facebook page.

* Although I was given free access to the CycleProGo app, I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions are my own.

Building at Home Depot

The first Saturday of the month often finds me heading to Home Depot with somewhere between 2 and 6 kids to build a project.  For free.  For fun. To pass some time and to give Liam in particular a chance to work with real tools.

This month was the annual race car project and they even had a racetrack set up for the kids to race their cars on when they were done building.

I'm also glad that they had several extra kits from previous months for the kids who were into more girly projects and not really race car fans.  Katie decided to make a picture frame and Abby made a heart shaped basket.  The three boys, of course, all made race cars. Then they came home and built their own racetrack out of cardboard boxes and have been playing with it all week. A definite winner this month.

Yorktown Pictures

Another stop we made on our trip was a visit to the Yorktown Battlefield. It was a somewhat cold and windy day and for some reason half of our kids decided to leave their coats in the van. Don't ask. I don't understand.  So although we attempted to take the guided tour through the town, part way through we had to turn back so that we could fetch coats out of the van for the children.  We then did some exploring on our own.  The old battlefields often amaze me simply in terms of how much was accomplished using so little.  This one was no exception.

The obligatory picture of the kids gathered around a canon.  Don't know about your parents, but mine took quite a few pictures like this.

Gabe insisted on reading the map for us. Never mind that it was often upside down and that walking while map reading are a bit hard for a small child to manage simultaneously.

One of the man made redoubts.

Aboard one of the ships.

Virginia Air and Space Museum

If you know my boys and my husband, you know that this was one museum we absolutely had to visit. Airplanes always rate rather high on the cool factor for kids to begin with.  Add in a Dad who can explain so much about them to you and you have extra fun.  (Yes, Alan is one of those folks who watches movies and points out the inaccuracies in the planes being used to you. Yes, it totally ruins the movie for you at times but what can I say?)

This museum was definitely worth the visit but I do wish we'd found our most recent RMSC membership card because then it would have been much cheaper.  But I made a point of not focusing on the cost of things this year which led to a much more relaxing trip. Who would've thought?

This was much harder than it looked but Katie was trying to mimic the signals needed to tell a plane to take off from a carrier.

Doesn't Gabe look awesome flying that jet?

The little kids mostly enjoyed the Clifford play area.  They spent lots of time delivering mail and driving the boat. Gabe told us all to watch our for sea monsters.  Granted, I have no clue what Clifford has to do with airplanes but was happy to have a place to entertain the younger ones while Alan took the older ones around to explore the stuff they were interested in more in depth.